What follows is a timeline of actions that highlight the alarming level of politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice under the second Trump administration. Politicization includes the misuse of the Department’s powers for political purposes rather than the independent and impartial enforcement of the laws. Weaponization includes a deliberate and systematic misuse of the Department’s powers for political or personal purposes and in defiance of the rule of law.
The chronological list below includes the most clear-cut cases that raise such concerns – examples include potential as well as actual abuses of the power of the Justice Department. The compilation does not include more ambiguous examples – for instance, when information on internal decision-making is lacking – such as the Justice Department’s decision to drop cases against SpaceX (civil lawsuit), Congressman Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee) (criminal investigation), and former Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska) (criminal prosecution).
| Date | Type of Action | Actor | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/20 | Executive Order - “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government” Document: Executive Order 14147 | President Trump | President Trump’s executive order dictates actions that the Attorney General must take to remedy what it describes as the “unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power” of the Biden administration. The order requires that the Attorney General “shall take appropriate action to review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States … over the last 4 years.” |
| 1/20 | Pardons and commutations for January 6th defendants Document: Proclamation 10887 | President Trump | On his first day in office, President Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of the nearly 1600 January 6 defendants, including Oath Keepers and Proud Boys convicted for premeditated plans to attack the Capitol. Trump called the criminal prosecutions “a grave national injustice.” With the exception of 14 defendants, all defendants received full pardons, including Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader. The 14 others were either leaders or members of the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys; they received commutations of their sentences, which Trump suggested could later become full pardons. The scope of the clemency went further than what many Republican lawmakers had called for, including Vice President Vance, who said on Meet the Press on Jan. 12, “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.” [For a descriptive analysis of the scope of the pardons and commutations, see article by Tom Joscelyn] |
| 1/20 | Statutory TikTok Ban: Non-enforcement and declaration of no liability Document: Executive Order 14166 | President Trump | President Trump’s executive order directs the Attorney General not to enforce the statute for a period of time” and it “order[s] the Attorney General to issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period, as well as for any conduct from the effective date of the Act until the issuance of this Executive Order.” [For analysis of this issue, see article by Adam Cox and Trevor Morrison] |
| Starting on 1/20 (and including 1/27) See also entries below at 1/31 and 2/28 | Removal & reassignment of DOJ officials, including in positions of national security, ethics oversight, and public corruption investigations | Trump administration/acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove | Officials within the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review were removed from their positions. (Alexander Mallin and Mike Levine report for ABC News) On Jan. 20, The Trump administration removed and reassigned 15 top career staffers in the DOJ’s national security and criminal divisions, transferring many of them to positions where they would have less influence on major decisions. With notifications by email, the moves include the removal of deputy assistant attorney general and senior counterintelligence attorney George Toscas from the National Security Division, where he had served since 2006. Other removals and reassignments from their posts include the demotion of Bruce Swartz, a deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division with three decades of experience, and Eun Young Choi, another deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division. “I don’t believe there were ever any career people fired at transition since the national security division was founded,” McCord said. (Perry Stein and Ellen Nakashima report for the Washington Post) On Jan. 27, in a memorandum Emil Bove reportedly “assigned politically appointed newcomers decision-making power over sensitive matters, including ethics, employee discipline, and release of information sought by inspectors general and Congress, stripping these authorities from the longstanding oversight of a senior career official.” Bove assigned responsibility to two of his staffers, both first-time DOJ employees – Kendra Wharton, a former criminal defense lawyer for Trump and Jordan Fox, a 2021 law school graduate. These actions include removal of a DOJ career official with three decades of experience, Bradley Weinsheimer, from the top ethics position. The moves are a sharp departure from decades of having leadership on ethics and employee discipline matters kept strictly for a senior career attorney. (Ben Penn reports for Bloomberg) The same day, Corey Amundson, the department's senior career official in charge of overseeing public corruption and other politically sensitive investigations, resigned after the new administration reassigned him to work on immigration issues. (Sarah Lynch reports for Reuters) |
| 1/21 (and 2/5) | Criminal investigation/prosecution of sanctuary city Officials Documents: Acting Deputy Attorney General Memorandum, “Interim Policy Changes Regarding Charging, Sentencing, and Immigration Enforcement” (1/21) Attorney General Memorandum, “Sanctuary Jurisdiction Directives” (2/5) | Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove | As the new acting deputy attorney general, Bove wrote a memorandum saying that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests” (emphasis added). The memo instructs that U.S. Attorney’s offices across the country “shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.” On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued this memorandum stating that “State and local actors may not impede, obstruct, or otherwise fail to comply with lawful immigration-related directives pursuant to the President's Article II authority to ensure national security, the Immigration and Nationality Act, or other authorities. All litigating components of the Department of Justice and each U.S. Attorney's Office shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct and shall, where supported by the evidence, prosecute violations of federal laws.” [For analysis explaining the legal problems with these statements, see article by Ahilan Arulanantham] |
| 1/21 | “Operation Whirlwind” - initiative to prosecute threats against public figures including Elon Musk Document: Letters | Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin | On Jan. 21, Martin sent a request for clarification to Senator Charles Schumer’s office regarding statements the Senator made at an abortion rights rally in 2020, which Martin characterized as an attack on Supreme Court justices. On Feb. 3, Martin sent a second letter to Schumer’s office. On Feb. 6,.Michael Lynch, Sen. Schumer’s Chief of Staff, responded to Martin and offered contextualization for the Senator’s remarks. On Feb. 11, Martin sent another letter to Schumer’s office– he did not acknowledge Lynch’s response, calling Schumer’s inaction “a personal disappointment and professionally unacceptable” and demanding a response by COB on Feb. 13. (Reporting by Washington Post Staff) Starting on or before Feb. 3, Martin posted a series of letters on X addressed to Musk in which the interim U.S. Attorney said he would go after individuals interfering with DOGE. He wrote, “I will begin an inquiry. … If people are discovered to have broken the law or even acted simply unethically, we will investigate them and will chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable” (emphasis added). On Feb. 17, Martin sent a letter of inquiry to Rep. Robert Garcia’s office, alleging that the representative’s statements about DOGE and Elon Musk could constitute a threat against public officials. On Feb. 19, in an all-staff memo sent by email to prosecutors, Martin announced “Operation Whirlwind,” stating that his office will prioritize the investigation of threats against public officials. In reference to DOGE workers, the email said, “It is despicable that these men and women are being threatened.” The memo also followed Martin’s letters to the offices of Senator Schumer and Rep. Garcia, and the term “whirlwind” appears to be a reference to Schumer’s remark. (Spencer S. Hsu reports for The Washington Post; Suzanne Monyak reports for Bloomberg Law) Martin has reportedly been pushing to present the Schumer case before a grand jury, but has been rebuffed by Justice Department officials. The New York Times reported that step “would allow prosecutors to subpoena records and witnesses, giving them a broad mandate to dig up derogatory information — even if Mr. Schumer is never indicted on charges that he incited violence against a public official.” (Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times) |
| 1/27 | Internal investigation of January 6 obstruction charges | Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin | In an email, Ed Martin notified staff that he had appointed Denise Cheung, chief of the Criminal Division, and Jon Hooks, chief of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights section, to undertake an internal review of the department’s handling of the January 6th prosecutions. The officials were instructed to investigate the department’s use of the charge “obstructing an official proceeding of Congress,” which the Supreme Court ruled in Fischer had been too broadly applied. Martin, who had served as defense counsel to January 6th defendants, stated about the obstruction charge: “Obviously, the use was a great failure of our office… and we need to get to the bottom of it.” The email was sent on a Monday morning, and Martin said that he expected a preliminary report by that Friday. (Spencer S. Hsu, Keith L. Alexander and Tom Jackman report for The Washington Post) |
| 1/27 | Firing prosecutors who worked on Trump cases Document: Acting AG Letter, “Notice of Removal from Federal Service” | Acting Attorney General James McHenry | Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired dozens of prosecutors who worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into President Donald Trump – citing the president’s Article II authority rather than any basis for cause under the civil service statutes. His letter stated, “Given your significant role in prosecuting the President, I do not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully.” (Glenn Thrush, Devlin Barrett, and Adam Goldman report for the New York Times) |
| 1/30 | Firing senior FBI officials | Trump administration/Justice Department Leadership | Around the time Kash Patel appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing, at least six (6) senior FBI officials were ordered to retire, resign, or be fired. Spencer Evans, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas field office wrote: “I was informed by FBIHQ today that the executive leadership at the Department of Justice plans to dismiss me from the rolls of the FBI, along with several other FBI executives, as soon as Monday Morning;” “I was given no rationale for this decision, which, as you might imagine, has come as a shock.” Before he was assigned to Las Vegas, Evans worked closely at FBI headquarters with Christopher Wray. (Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen report for CNN; Adam Goldman, Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush report for New York Times; Adam Goldman and Devlin Barrett report for New York Times; Ken Dilanian, Tom Winter, Ryan J. Reilly and Michael Kosnar report for NBC News; Ken Dilanian, Tom Winter and Zoë Richards report for NBC News) |
| 1/31 | Firing DOJ prosecutors Document directed to DOJ leadership: Acting DAG, “Terminations Memorandum” (1/31) | Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove | In a Jan. 31 memorandum titled, “Terminations,” the acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the termination of prosecutors who worked on criminal cases involving the attack on the Capitol. The list reportedly included 25-30 individuals. Bove explained his action as making good on “what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice,’” a quote Bove took from Trump’s opening line in his order of clemency in reference to all the prosecutions of the January 6th defendants (including the scores who assaulted law enforcement officers). He states that his actions are pursuant to the Weaponization of Government Executive Order. (Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for Politico) |
| 1/31 | Firing senior FBI officials; generating list of all FBI personnel on Jan 6 and MAL investigations Document directed to FBI leadership: Acting DAG, “Terminations Memorandum” (1/31) Acting DAG, “Colleagues” Memorandum (2/5) | Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove | In another Jan. 31 memorandum titled, “Terminations,” the acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the termination of seven (7) of the most experienced senior F.B.I. officials. Bove’s memo also demanded a list of every F.B.I. employee who ever worked on a January 6th case to determine if “any additional personnel actions are necessary.” Bove explained his action as making good on “what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice,’” a quote Bove took from Trump’s opening line in his order of clemency in reference to all the prosecutions of the January 6th defendants (including the scores who assaulted law enforcement officers). He states that his actions are pursuant to the Weaponization of Government Executive Order. Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and acting Deputy Director Rob Kissane initially resisted providing names; they were supported in their resistance by other FBI leaders, including the top agent at the FBI New York field office, James E. Dennehy. (Ken Dilanian, Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst, and Ryan J. Reilly report for NBC News; Adam Goldman, William K. Rashbaum, Maggie Haberman, and Glenn Thrush report for the New York Times) On Feb. 4, anonymous FBI employees filed two lawsuits on the potential public release of the list of names and the threat of adverse personnel actions. On the following day, Feb. 5, Bove issued an internal memorandum accusing acting director Driscoll of “insubordination.” The memo states: “Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties. The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.” (Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer report for the Associated Press) |
| 2/5 | Weaponization Working Group Document: AG Memorandum, “Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice” | Attorney General Pam Bondi | On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued this memorandum, which implements an executive order and created a “Weaponization Working Group,” authorizing investigation into the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States over the last 4 years. Among other priorities, the working group will specifically examine the actions of Special Counsel Jack Smith and his staff, the Manhattan DA and the New York AG, and those who investigated or prosecuted January 6 rioters. The leadership of the working group includes acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove (who served as Trump’s criminal defense counsel) and interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin (who represented Jan. 6 defendants). |
| 2/5 | Disbanding initiatives to protect U.S. democratic processes from foreign actors Document: AG Memorandum, "General Policy Regarding Charging, Plea Negotiations, and Sentencing" | Attorney General Pam Bondi | On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued this memorandum stating that “the Foreign Influence Task Force shall be disbanded.” The first Trump administration had established the task force to address foreign influence campaigns aimed at sowing discord and interfering with U.S. elections. The memorandum also limited the scope of enforcement actions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a criminal offense aimed at individuals who do not disclose lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. |
| 2/5 | Internal policy on personal political views Document: AG Memorandum, “General Policy Regarding Zealous Advocacy on Behalf of the United States” | Attorney General Pam Bondi | On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued this memorandum demanding that DOJ attorneys “zealously advance, protect, and defend” the interests and policies of the United States as determined by the President. It states that any DOJ attorney who, “because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department's mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.” This is an unusual statement by the U.S. Attorney General. The wording may not satisfy the criteria for politicization or weaponization. It may, instead, depend on how those terms are interpreted and applied in context. We include the memorandum here for thoroughness of the record. |
| 2/5 | Disbanding units combatting Russian oligarchs Document: AG Memorandum, “Total Elimination of Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations.” | Attorney General Pam Bondi | On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum stating, “Task Force KleptoCapture, the Department's Kleptocracy Team, and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, shall be disbanded.” These units were responsible, among other things, for seizing Russian oligarch assets in the enforcement of sanctions. |
| On or before 2/9 | Internal Memo on WH contacts with DOJ | White House Counsel David A. Warrington | This memo, issued as guidance to Trump’s staff and obtained by the Washington Post, states that the president and vice president are not barred from discussing any cases with the attorney general. The policy marks a departure from the post-Watergate era norm (and explicit “no contacts” policies of previous administrations including Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump 1.0, and Biden) that the president should not communicate with the DOJ about specific cases. |
| 2/10 | Actions to Dismiss Charges against Eric Adams Documents: Adams letter to Acting DAG Bove (2/3) Bove letter to acting USA Sassoon “Dismissal Without Prejudice of Prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams” (2/10) Sassoon letter to AG Bondi (2/12) Bove letter to acting USA Sassoon (2/13) Resignation letter from AUSA Hagan Scotten to Bove (2/14) DOJ Motion to Dismiss (2/14) | Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove Attorney General Pam Bondi | Bove directed the acting U.S. Attorney for SDNY to drop charges against Eric Adams. Bove claimed the case had been brought too close to Adams’ reelection campaign, and had impeded Adams’ “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.” In a letter to Attorney General Bondi, the acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon wrote that the arrangement “amounted to a quid pro quo.” Seven prosecutors, including members of the Public Integrity Section of Main Justice, resigned rather than submit the motion to dismiss, and Bove himself eventually signed the motion. (Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, and Evan Perez report for CNN) On Feb. 13, as indicated in his memo, Bove ordered Sassoon and two of her prosecutors to be investigated by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility over their refusal to submit the motion to dismiss. (Ben Penn reports for Bloomberg) An eighth DOJ attorney and four NYC deputy mayors resigned in protest. (Kasie Hunt and Hannah Rabinowitz report for CNN; Marcia Kramer, Jesse Zanger, and Christina Fan report for CBS News) |
| 2/11 | Durbin’s letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz | Senator Durbin, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Kash Patel | Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator Richard Durbin, in a letter to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, accused Kash Patel of directing FBI dismissals as a nominee to FBI Director on the basis of whistleblower reports. (Charlie Savage reports for the New York Times) |
| 2/14 | Threatening law firm for representing Jack Smith | Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin President Trump | On Feb. 24, Ed Martin posted: “Save your receipts, Smith and Covington. We’ll be in touch soon. #NoOneIsAboveTheLaw.” The post linked to an article detailing that Special Counsel Jack Smith has received $140,000 in pro bono legal services from the Washington law firm Covington & Burling. On Feb. 25, in a memorandum to the Attorney General and all relevant heads of executive departments and agencies, the president ordered the suspension of any active security clearances held by employees of Covington & Burling who had assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith during his time as Special Counsel. The memorandum also ordered “the Attorney General and heads of agencies to take such actions as are necessary to terminate any engagement of Covington & Burling LLP by any agency to the maximum extent permitted by law.” |
| Starting on or before 2/17 | Criminal probe of Biden-era climate grant Document: Denise Cheung Resignation letter (2/18) | Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove | Veteran prosecutor Denise Cheung resigned from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. after refusing to comply with the Trump administration’s ramping up of efforts to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects. Cheung had been willing to work with the FBI to ask the bank handling the disbursements to freeze the funds pending additional investigation, but refused an order from interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin to compel the bank to do so, believing that she lacked sufficient evidence to meet the probable cause standard. The Justice Department then began to take unusual steps to advance the investigation. Ed Martin personally submitted the seizure warrant application, because other prosecutors refused to do so. The magistrate judge in D.C. rejected the request on the ground that the request and accompanying FBI agent affidavit failed to establish a reasonable belief that a crime occurred. Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove approached at least one other U.S. attorney’s office in the southeastern United States about seeking a court ordered bank freeze, but prosecutors in that office again refused the warrant request. It is unclear whether a warrant was obtained elsewhere– but now, Citibank, which holds the relevant accounts, has frozen accounts for at least three groups (Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, and Justice Climate Fund) that had been awarded funds. During the week of Feb. 27, FBI agents questioned EPA employees about the Biden administration's grant program, escalating the criminal probe. [Spencer S. Hsu, Carol D. Leonnig, and Nicolás Rivero report for Washington Post; Spencer S. Hsu, Maxine Joselow, and Nicolás Rivero report for the Washington Post] |
| 2/18 | President and AG control over all opinions of law Document: Executive Order 14215 (“Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies”) | President Trump | President Trump signed an executive order giving the president greater control over regulatory agencies. The order takes power away from independent agencies and stipulates that only the President and the Attorney General may interpret the law for the executive branch. It states: “No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General's opinion on a matter of law.” |
| 2/19, 2/20 & 2/25 | Extending Jan. 6 Pardons to Other Crimes Documents: DOJ court filings in United States v. Wilson United States v. Jeremy Brown United States v. Daniel Charles Ball United States v. Elias Nick Costianes | Justice Department leadership Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Philip A. Selden Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Sara C. Sweeney | In four cases, the Department of Justice has submitted to courts that “based on consultation with Department leadership,” the Jan. 20 pardons and commutations include other crimes that were discovered in the course of executing search warrants related to the investigation of January 6th defendants. Jeremy Brown, an Oath Keeper, had been convicted of illegally possessing grenades and classified military information; Daniel Edwin Wilson had been convicted on firearms charges; Elias Costianes pleaded guilty to possession of firearms and ammunition by an unlawful user of any controlled substance; and Daniel Ball had been charged with possession of a firearm. |
| 2/24 | Loyalty statement on X Document: social media post | Interim US Attorney Ed Martin | In a post to X: “As President Trump’s lawyers, we are proud to fight to protect his leadership as our President and we are vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first.” (emphasis added). |
| 3/3 | DOJ intervention in state prosecution for pro-Trump 2020 election tampering Document: DOJ Statement of Interest in Peters v. Feyen and Weiser | Acting Assistant Attorney General Civil Division, Yaakov M. Roth Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, J. Bishop Grewell | The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the case of Tina Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo. Peters, who was convicted in state court of seven charges stemming from her efforts to breach a voting machine under her control in the 2020 election in a failed attempt to claim that the election had been rigged against Trump. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. The DOJ called this sentence “exceptionally lengthy” and said the Justice Department was concerned about multiple aspects of Peters’ case, citing President Trump’s executive order “ending the weaponization of the federal government.” To that end, the DOJ said it is conducting a review to determine whether Peters’ prosecution was “oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice.” The court filing was signed by Yaakov M. Roth, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, and J. Bishop Grewell, acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado. (Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times) |
Editor’s note: This piece is part of the Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of the Trump Administration’s Executive Actions